Los Alamitos, Calif., 18 September 2024 – The IEEE Computer Society (CS) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) today announced David A. Padua as this year’s recipient of the Ken Kennedy Award. Padua received the distinction for his innovative and impactful contributions to the theory and practice of parallel compilation and tools, outstanding mentorship, and community service.
Over the course of his 40-plus-year career, Padua has contributed to the basics of both language design and system architecture relative to compilers, and also developed several whole research compilers for general purpose use. Additionally, he served as a builder of specialized algorithms and architectures, and along with his students, has made major contributions to parallel compiler fundamental methods, general parallel programming, domain‐specific parallelism, and compiler evaluation.
For instance, Padua and his co-workers proposed the Signal Processing Language (SPL), a high-level domain-specific language that enables compilers to explore different mathematical transformations and factorizations based on input data size and hardware architecture. This approach has revolutionized the optimization process for digital signal processing (DSP), enabling high performance across a wide range of DSP algorithms and computer architectures.
“David Padua is a pioneer in the field of parallel and distributed computing and compilers,” said David Abramson, The University of Queensland, past Ken Kennedy Award recipient, and chair of this year’s Selection Committee. “His fundamental contributions have truly defined this field, and we are thrilled to honor the impact he’s had on high-performance computing.”
As a professor, Padua has graduated 37 PhDs in 37 years, amassed 17,000 citations in 170 papers, and facilitated critical collaborations with many groups in the U.S. and Europe. In addition, as editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing, he and his collaborators integrated the ideas of parallel computing as a major community service project, resulting in four volumes and over 2,100 pages.
Padua’s successes have been acknowledged with numerous accolades throughout his career, including the 2015 IEEE CS Harry H. Goode Memorial Award. He currently serves as a Fellow of AAAS, ACM, and IEEE, and is the recipient of an honorary Ph.D. from University of Vallodolid, Spain.
IEEE CS and ACM will formally present the Ken Kennedy Award to Padua during the Awards Ceremony at SC24 in Atlanta, 17-22 November. As this year’s awardee, Padua will receive a certificate and a $5,000 honorarium.
In addition to naming this year’s recipient, IEEE CS and ACM also announced today that nominations for the 2025 Ken Kennedy Award are open. Nominators must answer a series of questions about the candidate, upload a letter of recommendation, and solicit two endorsers to support the candidate; self-nominations are not accepted. Submissions must be received by 30 June 2025. For more information or to submit, visit https://www.computer.org/volunteering/awards/kennedy.
About the Ken Kennedy Award
ACM and IEEE CS co-sponsor the Ken Kennedy Award, which was established in 2009 to recognize substantial contributions to programmability and productivity in computing and significant community service or mentoring contributions. It was named for the late Ken Kennedy, founder of Rice University’s computer science program and a world expert on high performance computing. The Kennedy Award carries a US $5,000 honorarium endowed by IEEE CS and ACM.
About the IEEE Computer Society
Engaging computer engineers, scientists, academia, and industry professionals from all areas of computing, the IEEE Computer Society (CS) sets the standard for the education and engagement that fuels continued global technological advancement. Through conferences, publications, and programs, and by bringing together computer science and engineering leaders at every phase of their career for dialogue, debate, and collaboration, IEEE CS empowers, shapes, and guides the future of not only its members but the greater industry, enabling new opportunities to better serve our world. Visit computer.org for more information.
About SC
SC, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, sponsored by ACM and IEEE CS, offers a complete technical education program and exhibition to showcase the many ways high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis lead to advances in scientific discovery, research, education, and commerce. This premier international conference includes a globally attended technical program, workshops, tutorials, a world-class exhibit area, demonstrations, and opportunities for hands-on learning. SC24 takes place 17-22 November in Atlanta, Ga. Registration is now open. To register or learn more, visit https://sc24.supercomputing.org/attend.
